My paternal grandfather died at 61 from his 2nd heart attack. His first was at get more info 46.
My mom's grandfather died at 73 from a stroke. He had a triple bypass ~10 years earlier.
And my dad had a triple bypass at 56. (Thank God he’s still alive - about to be 79.)
But the attitude of those two generations - The Greatest Generation and the Baby Boomers - is/was that getting old is “just the way it is.”
Which is why I think a lot of guys over 40 today feel their best days are behind them (just like their dads and granddads thought).
And you know what?
All of them are right, because the old adage is true:
“As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” - Proverbs 23:7
Which is why many guys over 40 today still languish in the doldrums of their later years…
Quietly dying inside and out ,
Watching their bodies deteriorate before their very eyes, as if there’s no hope …
Que sera, sera - Whatever will be, will be.
That’s just the way it is. (Cue Bruce Hornsby & The Range…)
But not me.
Am I as strong as I was in my early 20s?
Depends on how you define strength.
Can I hit the same numbers in the Olympic lifts or Powerlifts?
No. I’m probably in the 85-90% range. (And to be honest, I no longer really focus on that.)
But... I can do things like Pistol Squats and One-Arm-One-Leg Push Ups now, and TGU’s with the 48kg, which I was unable to do back then. (And I'm not in pain all the time, which is its own advantage - quite the opposite of how most guys age.)
And from what I’ve seen firsthand with the guys I’ve been training, it’s totally achievable to hit PRs well into your 40s, 50s, 60s, even beyond.
It all depends on your beliefs - what you personally believe to be true .
For example, I got this message from Brett on one of my YouTube videos:
As you can see when he made this statement, he was just close to his 55th birthday.
He reported he’s:
Never felt stronger
Full of strength
Full of vitality
Increased his VO2Max
And his resting heart rate has decreased by 10 BPM ...
… All in only 10 weeks .
As you can see, it requires minimal time to see positive changes - at any age.
All you need is -
1- A plan
2- To consistently adhere to that plan
That’s. It.
That’s the “secret” to getting fitter as you get older.
So, it doesn’t matter where you are or what you’ve done in the past.
All that matters is that you can find ways to get better from your current baseline.
If you want to follow Brett’s lead, get yourself a copy of “The King-Sized Killer”.
Not ready for Snatches?
Use the Clean + Press.
@mjhastings54 said this about ‘THE GIANT’ Clean + Press program -
At the end of the day, we all get to determine how we think about getting older and how we age.
That choice determines both the quality and the length of the life you’ll live from this day forward.
Me?
I decide to be STRONG .
What about you?
Stay Strong,
Geoff Neupert.